Byron Bay: A Portrait Of Now

There is a small town in Eastern Australia where the Morning of the Earth began and never quite ended.

Interviews by Nathan Myers
Photos by Duncan Macfarlane

"By the early '70s, Byron had become the hub of Australian surfing's short but influential back-to-nature "country soul" movement, an era beautifully captured in Alby Falzon's 1972 surf movie classic Morning of the Earth." --Encyclopedia of Surfing, by Matt Warshaw

"Byron Bay seems to be able to retain its magic regardless of the surface level changes. Seems like we all change over time; we get older, wrinkly, sore and tired, but underneath we are filled with rich experience and stories… maybe Byron is a little like that." --Dave Rastovich

Craig Anderson, tube riding.

"The outlandish individuals and travelers passing though every day make it seem like a permanent holiday."--Duncan McNicol, Bryon resident

"When I first came here with my folks in 1956, we watched the guys carve up a whale on the old jetty, while a crazy local was catching 10-foot sharks on 1-inch rope with a meat hook with a bull's heart attached. The rope was tied to the jetty and as the slack took up, the whole wooden jetty shuddered. There was blood everywhere." --Bob McTavish, shaper/pioneer

"I love the landscape. The pretty humans and their good spirits. The long daytime. The even longer nighttime. The uncrowdedness of the oceans. The pace of life. Sharing it with really good friends. The elaborate procrastination of reality that helps the blues go away."--Warren Smith